2003-02-14 - 11:18 p.m.

Engaged!

He is a chess player, Watson, a person of devious mind. - Sherlock Holmes

Heh. I suppose that last entry requires a bit of an explanation.

While Lily and I were in China, we bought an engagement ring with the idea that I was going to give it to her at some point in the future. While having her pick it out made it certain that she would like it and the ring would fit her, it also took away a bit of the element of surprise. The problem: how could I give her the ring without it being some sort of anticlimactic letdown? Clearly this required a bit of thinking, and a bit of planning.

I don't know how this occurred to me, but it struck me that the best plan was to hide in plain sight. Valentine's Day is a day of romantic gestures, but I didn't think Lily would be expecting this particular romantic gesture. All that remained was to pretend that this was an ordinary Valentine's Day, and to not act like anything was up. I also had to put the ring and box somewhere where Lily might forget about it a for little bit.

Another idea that occurred to me was to propose to Lily at our favorite restaurant, which is practically across the street from our house. One of the reasons for this is that this restaurant is going to be moving away in the next year or so, so the number of times we can enjoy it are limited.

In order for Lily to not suspect that something was up, I had to get her something else for Valentine's day. I decided to get her flowers, in fact I decided to duplicate the flower arrangement that was waiting for her at the apartment when she moved in here back in 2000. Were there lilies in the bouquet? Of course!

I thought everything was going smoothly when, the day before Valentine's Day, I went to make the reservation at the restaurant. What I didn't know was that for restaurants, Valentine's Day is like Christmas. The place was practically booked solid, and it had been for weeks. Yipes! Who knew? On previous Valentine's Days Lily had been busy with other things and we'd never actually gone out to dinner on the day itself. I know that Valentines day is also a big day for florists, but a couple of days seemed to be fine for the florist. Live and learn, I guess.

It's a good thing I went over to make the reservation in person. They did have some open tables, but only at 4 p.m. or 10 p.m. Since we both had to get up early on Saturday, it seemed kinder to make the reservations for 4 p.m. It's a little early for dinner, but what the hell.

My idea was to have the waiter bring out the ring when he brought out the dessert tray, but of course this would require the cooperation of the restaurant staff. I talked to the restaurant owner about what I wanted and she thought it was a charming idea. She was a little nervous about me leaving the ring with her overnight, so I said that I'd come back with it the following day.

On the day itself, everything went smoothly. Lily was delighted by the flowers, which were waiting for her when she came home from class. By some lucky timing I managed to arrive home just as she was coming up the stairs, so I got to see the look on her face when she opened the door. Awwww.

On some pretext I left the house about an hour before dinner was scheduled and snuck the ring over to the restaurant. When I got there the owner was just keying herself in, so once again my timing was lucky. The waiting staff was bustling around, setting stuff up, but they seemed to know what was going on, and a couple of the waitresses wanted to see the ring. I guess word travels fast, but I warned them that mum was the word. You don't know me, okay?

At 4 p.m. we headed over to the restaurant, and we were the first customers in the door. The wait staff seemed busy, so it didn't look like anything was up. By the way, I posted that last entry when we were on our way out the door. Aren't I the daring one?

Lily and I had an enjoyable dinner, talking about this and that over drinks. We were at a table in the back of the restaurant and as our food was arriving the tables around us started to fill up. A party with a rather obnoxious old guy sat at the table right next to us. There was another, younger couple with them and they looked less than thrilled to be there. It didn't look like there was a whole lot of romance in their lives.

The arrangement had been for the ring box to be brought out with the desert tray, but when I asked to see it, the waiter told me that there wasn't a dessert tray! I tried not to show how nervous I was, as I frantically hoped that the restaurant knew what they were doing. Sure enough, when the dessert we ordered came out there were two plates - the other one had the ring box on it with some candy hearts and a chocolate covered strawberry.

Lily looked utterly thunderstruck. I smiled at her and said: "Guess what time it is?"

I wanted to do it the right way, so I went around her side of the table and got down on one knee. I don't think I even finished the question when Lily said "Yes, yes, yes!" While we were kissing, the old guy at the next table was making some remarks like "Hey, no smooching!" Bite me, old guy. I'm busy getting engaged over here!

To my immense relief, everything went off practically without a hitch. I gave the waiter a huge tip. Lily was showing the ring to some of the waitresses on the way out of the restaurant. Mission accomplished!

As to when we're going to get married, that's still up in the air. While she's going to school there's a chance it could mess up her financial aid. I'm a guy of modest means - I can't afford to send anyone to medical school. Once the future becomes a little more clear we'll probably set a date.

Anyway, I know all this subterfuge and planning makes me sound a little crafty and underhanded, but it was in a good cause. I think I gave Lily a good memory she'll treasure the rest of her life, and that was the whole point. However, I'm glad that I don't plan on doing it again, because I don't think my nerves could take it!